


Help a Brother Out

by Foreverwholockedme



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Bisexual Arthur Morgan, Brotherly Love, John's a good wingman, M/M, Romantic Fluff, Sharing a Bed, john's a little shit, yeah they fucked
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-03-01 01:18:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18790099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foreverwholockedme/pseuds/Foreverwholockedme
Summary: It's hot, John's bothered, and he's had enough of Arthur and Charles skirting around each other. A story about how John steps up to help his brother Arthur finally get in Charles' pants.





	Help a Brother Out

_I am convinced that Charles has taken to chopping wood in front of me solely to drive me mad. He started taking his shirt off just last week, on account of this damn heat…_

“Take your shirt off too, if you hot then."

Arthur slammed his journal shut faster than John had ever seen. John laughed at how red in the face Arthur became, it suited him better than that sourpuss one he was always sporting. 

“Goddammit, Marston! Why you standing here for?” 

“You must have been awful distracted to not realize my shadow been over you since you was writing. When you gonna sketch him shirtless?” 

Arthur grumbled and looked away. 

“I already did…” he mumbled shortly after. John smiled at that and sat down next to his big brother. Just like Abigail showed him, he snatched the book from Arthur so deftly that by the time he reacted to the air in his hands, John had already managed to sneak a quick peek of the rough sketch. It wasn’t for longer than a few seconds, unfortunately, because Arthur was just as quick taking it back. John was also gifted a swift but firm slap to the back of the head. He thought he was twelve again, but just like then, he shook it off. 

“Why don’t you show him the sketch?” 

“Right, suppose I’ll just mosey up to him and say something foolish like, ‘Hey Charles come look at this sketch I have of you while I watched you chop wood for an hour!’ I’m sure he’ll be real keen on that, John. You moron.” 

“Sure, but then y’all get to chatting and then who knows what could happen from there.” 

John snuck a glance at his brother and his heart twinged a bit at the sight of someone he idolized (not like he’ll ever tell Arthur) for being the gang’s hero of sorts, look so helpless. 

“I ain’t good at talking to folks, John. My best skills is fighting and shooting. Ain’t much room for talk during those.” 

“Arthur you was nearly married.” 

He was considering mentioning Eliza too, but Arthur still shuts down hard whenever there might be room for her to be mentioned. 

“Mary’s different…she’s–” 

“A woman.” John finished. Arthur’s resigned nod and sad face was the answer. 

“What if Charles don’t…what if he don’t like men?” 

“What if he does?” 

“What if he don’t like me?” 

That sounded like it physically hurt Arthur to think that way, and John was not about to let Arthur doubt himself into not asking Charles. He wasn’t sure why Arthur forgot about that period before Mary where he  _fucked._ Men and women alike _._ It was a short window of time but Arthur still owes John favors for covering for him all the times he snuck his lovers into camp. 

“Wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case. It’s like you said, John. I was nearly married, but I ain’t because she ain’t want me. She weren’t even the first to say that.” 

John never really cared much for Mary, and hearing how sad and insecure that break-up made him just makes him mad all over again. 

“I ain’t good enough for him.” 

John didn’t mean to have the conversation take this turn, Arthur was clearly upset enough that he sighed and left his spot on the grass. John watched as Arthur schlepped away to his tent. John turned his attention back to Charles, who had just taken a break from his chore. He was wiping sweat off his brow, his eyes caught John’s. He smiled and waved, John was more than happy to return the gesture. The topless man then walked over to him and joined him in Arthur’s old spot. 

“How are you, John?” 

“Reckon I could be better. Getting a bit restless, I’m probably going to head out soon.” 

Charles hummed. John suddenly had an idea. 

“Charles do you want to go hunting with me? I saw a bunch of rabbits not too far from here, and deer too, they was making babies all winter so there’s plenty of them.” 

Charles laughed and nodded. 

“Sure, I’ll grab my gear and meet you at the horses.” 

John tipped his head and waited for Charles to leave before darting over to Arthur, who still looked as miserable as ever, scribbling away in his journal. He was drawing Cain.  

“Arthur! Arthur let’s go hunting!” 

“I don’t want to, go away!” 

“I want you to come with me.” 

“Always nice to try somethings for ourselves, I reckon.” He deadpanned 

John was getting irritated, but he wasn’t going to stop. 

“Please Arthur? We ain’t really done much with each other outside of missions. You might not miss my company so much but some times…well…you know…” 

Arthur sighed loudly and John smiled, knowing that he won. Arthur put his journal away and then put his hat on. 

“Come on then, the sun’s about ready to start setting and ain’t no use hunting in the dark.” 

John was as giddy as a child and practically ran over to his horse. Charles was already waiting there. John wished he had a camera to capture the priceless face that he had when he saw Arthur walking over with him. It was sheer delight, and John nearly pummeled his brother for thinking that he wasn’t interested. When John looked at Arthur, the man’s face was pale as all hell. He had his lasso on-hand in case Arthur was thinking about booking it back to his tent. Instead, he shook it off and smiled at Charles. 

“Afternoon, Charles.” 

John wanted to laugh so bad. Arthur sounded like a love-sick teenager, he wasn’t even this bad with Mary! He even batted his eye lashes at him! Charles chuckled and placed a hand on his shoulder. He rubbed it with his thumb. His thumb! John thought he was going to combust! He knew Arthur had a penchant for being stupid but he didn’t think Charles had a bit of the fool gene in him too. 

“John didn’t tell me you were coming with us.” 

Arthur giggled as he anxiously fiddled with his horse, Artie. She was a good girl.

“It’s funny…he ain’t tell me neither.” 

Arthur’s eyes flicked over to John’s and the man knew he was going to get his ass beat the moment they came back to camp. It would be worth it, he decided. 

Charles smoothly mounted Taima, and patted her gently. John could have sworn he saw Arthur swoon at the sight. This was bad, this was the worst he’d ever seen someone. He was definitely telling Tilly and Hosea about this. 

“If I had known, I would have dressed better.” 

John had never heard Arthur snort while laughing ever, but today was full of firsts for the both of them. The cowboy’s face was beet-red as he nervously laughed. Maybe John should have told him beforehand, but he didn’t want the man getting cold feet and never come. Charles started riding off, leaving the two brothers to follow. 

“Did John tell you what we were going to hunt?” Charles started the conversation. Arthur seemed to have calmed down, that was good. 

“No, did he tell you?” 

They were talking about him like he wasn’t right there. They really were made for each other. 

“Rabbits.” 

 _“Yeah cause y’all about to be fucking like them”,_  John thought. 

“I think I know what he’s talking about, there’s a clearing in the forest that’s just a bit further out from camp. We could spend the night there, since it’s already near sundown.” 

Charles flashed another smile at him and nodded. 

“Sounds like a good idea. You brought your bow?” 

Arthur pulled it from his horse’s holster. 

“Good. You’re really good with that thing. Didn’t even need to really teach you.” 

Arthur tipped his head downward so that you couldn’t really make out his face, but John was next to him and could see that he was grinning from ear-to-ear. It really warmed John’s heart to see him so touched. Only lover he had that was nearly as kind to him as Charles was Eliza. People weren’t truly kind to Arthur, very few were. John wasn’t very kind to him either, not after he deserted him for a year. But he was trying to make it up, Charles would be good for Arthur. Arthur just seemed so lonely most days and melancholic; besides himself, Hosea, and Sadie, Charles was the only other one to try and make him feel good about himself. Of course this is all considering the fact that they were both love-sick buffoons who needed one non love-sick buffoon like John Marston to help them get together. It was working so far. 

They finally got to that clearing that Arthur mentioned and along the way, they saw rabbits, deer, and even a few turkeys. They were definitely going to have decent meals coming their way. Charles and Arthur were both dismounting when John whistled for Charles to come over to him. 

“Why are you still on your horse? Come down, set up camp with us.” 

“I’ll catch up with y’all later on, I think there was a…a…legendary rabbit up that way. It’s best if we split up to cover more ground, and y’all are better hunters than me so if you stay here you’ll catch all these critters.” 

Charles crossed his arms and smirked. He looked like he caught John’s drift but then maybe Charles just always looked charming. He exhaled and nodded after quiet deliberation. 

“Alright, but I’m telling Arthur before he starts to worry after you.” 

Before John could stop him, Charles turned and shouted, “John’s heading further up, he’ll come back tonight!” 

Arthur shouted back, “If you get into any trouble shoot your gun twice so we can come get you, you hear?” 

“Sure.” 

“You got water? Food? Bullets?” 

“Yes, Arthur!” 

“Don’t come back no later than noon neither, can’t have you running off on us again.” 

Arthur did this when he was a kid and he’s still doing it now. He was grown! He was twenty-six he knew how to pack for a hunting trip! He huffed and began walking away from the two of them. He found a patch of grass on a hill not more than five minutes away from them. When he got to the top he managed to coax his horse to lay down and have a nap with him. When they woke it was well past mid-night. Tiredly, he and his horse trudged back to the campsite where he found that the fire was still lit. He also realized that there was only two tents pitched up instead of three. He went to walk over to the second tent but he kicked an empty can of beans, and Artie got spooked because of it, she huffed two strong gusts of wind in his face. She also woke Arthur up. He came out of the tent with just his pants thrown on haphazardly. When he saw John standing there he put his hands on his hips. 

“You been gone all that time and ain’t bring nothing back? Ain’t you the one that wanted to hunt?”  

“He was a slippery bastard.” 

“Shut up, I see the drool marks on your face, idiot.” 

John crossed his arms. Arthur started to let up. 

“If you was sleeping then you wasn’t eating. Come on, Charles and I made a plate for you.” 

John realized that there were at least ten rabbits, two turkeys, and a buck who was big feller. His stomach growled when Arthur placed the plate in his hands. The food was still warm. It was beans, corn, and turkey. Much better than anything Pearson ever cooked. While he was scarfing it down, Charles came out of the same tent Arthur did, also half-naked. He was yawning while he walked over to Arthur and kissed the man on his bare shoulder. 

“Why did you leave?” 

“Because John came back and nearly let my horse die of shock.” 

Accused man swallowed his food and said very sternly, “I did not!” 

Charles woke up after hearing John’s voice and it was his turn to blush. Arthur’s composure was much better than earlier today. He was smiling at John teasingly. 

“Yes, you’ll be glad to know your little plan worked.” 

“Do I gotta leave camp again to let y’all finish or are you done?” 

Arthur rolled his eyes and waved his little brother away as he turned to go back into the tent. 

“Shut up and go back to bed after you finish eating, that tent’s pitched over there for you. Charles and I will see you in the morning because I ain’t about to let you return to camp empty-handed.” 

Charles followed behind Arthur dutifully as they went back into their tent. Once the camp got quiet again all John could do was childishly mock him before doing exactly as he was told. 

At least Arthur got his man, though. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm taking red dead requests on my tumblr at Johnlockerooni! 
> 
> I'm playing with the idea of writing the scene where they actually caboodle from Arthur's POV since John clearly wasn't there to watch them fuck. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading!


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